Adventures in 3D Printing

[Philippe D.]

One more picture...

I printed small "feet" that I glued under my boxes, to keep them from sliding too easily when stacked. These seem to work fine; they're very simple, cylinders 5mm in diameter and 1mm thick. They're not placed extra precisely on the bottom of boxes, but they do the job (I printed them hollow for aesthetic reasons - makes gluing them not so easy, I guess the next will have a single layer at the bottom (top when gluing).

The three boxes on the picture hold the entire Italian gun/vehicle OB, with a separate compartment for each single counter; the boxes take the same space as a stack of 2 A75/A78 inserts. The 5/8" concealment counters are not there at the moment, but there is some spare room for them.

 

[fenyan]

I believe the Raaco feet are the same design; hollow rings. Are you using cyanoacrylate (crazy glue) or epoxy to glue your feet?

The 2/3 height trays are working great for me; I'm able to fit the Germans and Russians in one assorter again, and can fit in one handybox the Russians, Germans, Americans, UK, French and all info counters except PTO/landing craft/desert. In the other handybox I can fit the rest of the core counters including Korea and there is plenty of space left for the upcoming Swedes and Ethiopians.

The 2/3 height trays not only save space but allow further customization of storage (one of Raaco's greatest strengths). Thank you again for providing the STLs for these!!!

 

[Sparafucil3]

I have printed over a dozed of the 15mm (2/3 height) trays. They are awesome. It has helped me greatly to collapse my kit down. -- jim

 

[Philippe D.]

I believe the Raaco feet are the same design; hollow rings. Are you using cyanoacrylate (crazy glue) or epoxy to glue your feet?

I bought some "hard plastic glue", the package doesn't seem to say exactly what it's made of. Says "hard plastics, except polyethylene and polypropylene". Since the pieces seem to hold and didn't melt, I'm assuming this will hold - it's not like I'm planning on putting a lot of weight on the feet.

I've watched a lot of videos, and they don't seem to say what one should use to glue together PLA prints.

And I'm glad my STLs are of use to others!

 

[Sparafucil3]

And I'm glad my STLs are of use to others!

Super handy Philippe! Thanks for sharing. I have another on the printer as I type this. -- jim

 

[Sparafucil3]

Philippe, are you using Octoprint or anything like that? -- jim

 

[R Hooks]

I don't know a thing about 3D printing, but I had a wild (possibly) idea. Do any of you think it might be possible to print FOOD? "Jet Rolls" belong me. Strawberry is my expected big seller

 

[von Marwitz]

I don't know a thing about 3D printing, but I had a wild (possibly) idea. Do any of you think it might be possible to print FOOD? "Jet Rolls" belong me. Strawberry is my expected big seller

As the 'ink' for printing 3D is some sort of plastic resin which is heated and then 'printed' into form, no 3D printed "Jet Rolls" for you, I'm afraid.

But as some burgers mass produced by some fast-food chains do not taste much different as if they were made from plastic - who knows?

von Marwitz

 

[Philippe D.]

Philippe, are you using Octoprint or anything like that? -- jim

No, just the stock printer. I'm not even sure what Octoprint is for.

 

[fenyan]

Inspired by Philippe's printed feet, I ordered several hundred O-rings (003, 3/16 inch outer diameter & cross-sectional diameter 1/16 inch). Read that Cyanoacrylate was a good glue for Nitrile (the O-ring material) and PLA. I glued several last night and this morning they cured to a very strong bond. I know this because I glued a few of the rings too close to the edge on some trays and had to peel them off (with a good deal of effort) to reposition and reglue them.

In this photo, left is a full-size tray and on the right is a 2/3 height tray.


I used an empty insert on top of the full insert to assist in turning over the insert to apply the feet. Of course, the counters were all jumbled up after this process. (Pro tip: Glue feet on before placing counters into insert )


The O-rings I ordered appear to be a bit smaller than what's on the original Raaco trays so you could go a bit bigger. That said, the 003 size seem to work fine; just be careful to not glue them too close to the edge. Do a test fit on an empty original Raaco before setting it down to cure overnight (18 hours should be enough).

 

[Gordon]

And non-slip, to boot!

 

[von Marwitz]

Inspired by Philippe's printed feet, I ordered several hundred O-rings (003, 3/16 inch outer diameter & cross-sectional diameter 1/16 inch). Read that Cyanoacrylate was a good glue for Nitrile (the O-ring material) and PLA. I glued several last night and this morning they cured to a very strong bond. I know this because I glued a few of the rings too close to the edge on some trays and had to peel them off (with a good deal of effort) to reposition and reglue them.

In this photo, left is a full-size tray and on the right is a 2/3 height tray.
View attachment 14735

I used an empty insert on top of the full insert to assist in turning over the insert to apply the feet. Of course, the counters were all jumbled up after this process. (Pro tip: Glue feet on before placing counters into insert )
View attachment 14736

The O-rings I ordered appear to be a bit smaller than what's on the original Raaco trays so you could go a bit bigger. That said, the 003 size seem to work fine; just be careful to not glue them too close to the edge. Do a test fit on an empty original Raaco before setting it down to cure overnight (18 hours should be enough).
View attachment 14737

If you use this 'O-Ring Method' you could 3D-print some form of 'receptacle' into the inlays to make them easier to glue on / to hold them in position during heavy use.

von Marwitz

 

[fenyan]

That's a great idea. One could even cut out a template out of cardstock for consistent positioning before gluing.

 

[BattleSchool]

One more picture...

I printed small "feet" that I glued under my boxes, to keep them from sliding too easily when stacked. These seem to work fine; they're very simple, cylinders 5mm in diameter and 1mm thick. They're not placed extra precisely on the bottom of boxes, but they do the job (I printed them hollow for aesthetic reasons - makes gluing them not so easy, I guess the next will have a single layer at the bottom (top when gluing).

The three boxes on the picture hold the entire Italian gun/vehicle OB, with a separate compartment for each single counter; the boxes take the same space as a stack of 2 A75/A78 inserts. The 5/8" concealment counters are not there at the moment, but there is some spare room for them.

View attachment 14672

Just a thought...

It looks like you've created slide-on covers for these trays. The lid with "Italian Guns" on it looks great, by the way.

Am I right in thinking that the cover slides into grooves on either side of tray? If so, had you thought of adding similar grooves to the "bottom" of the tray? In other words, instead of printing the tray in one piece, make it in three pieces.

A) print tray without a bottom (or top), but with grooves on both sides to accept the bottom and top lids (possibly with a flexible tab to hold bottom lid in place)
B) print top lid with raised descriptive text
C) print bottom "lid" with feet (one side is flat, which would seem to solve the printing limitation discussed earlier in the thread)
D) slide bottom and top lids into place et voilà!

Is this possible? If tab is too difficult, then one could still glue bottom piece in place, which ought to be easier than gluing four feet.